Aviation has a mystical element; an elevated status born either of ignorance of the laws of physics or a misunderstanding of the ‘language of pilots’. In my early flying career a friend asked me whether we had to go to a special school to learn ‘pilot speak’. My answer was, of course, yes! Another friend pulled up behind me at a petrol filling station. They didn’t attract my attention with a greeting so I was unaware of their presence. Later, when I learnt of this, I asked why hadn’t they said hello? Their answer: they thought I would be far too busy – as I was a pilot. Yes, pilots are human like all of us: they have to do the chores as well! And quite how they made the link between being in a plane and filling the car with petrol has escaped me ever since! This was long before miscommunication became a serious subject and the universality of English competency was mandated for the international aviation community. Little did I realise that in the future I would be making ‘pilot speak’ my speciality. So the answer to my friend’s question really was ‘yes’, but I just didn’t know it at the time. We speak our first language without thinking. When we learn a new language we are stretched; the brain uses massive processing power to remember words, structure, form, expression etc. This is very high-end as we can’t speak and do complex tasks at the same time. Watch inexperienced crew training in a flight simulator: when the workload is excessive verbal communication stops; we can’t handle it. So, faced with two pilots, one a native English speaker, the other not, what happens when they are under intense pressure in an emergency? Answer: we use a pilot who understands the pressures of the job, to teach the English that will be needed. As a former pilot I have the mindset; I understand the motivating forces behind the inexperienced student. And as a qualified English teacher I have the skills to develop the students’ language in a meaningful context.
Listed skills include Airlines, Architectures, Aviation, Commercial Aviation, and 13 others.